Saudi-led strikes on Yemen market killed 119: UN

The Saudi-led coalition launched its air campaign against Huthi rebels in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government in March 2015. PHOTO: AFP

SANAA: Saudi-led air strikes on a market killed 119 people this week in northern Yemen’s rebel-held Hajja province, the United Nations said Thursday, nearly three times the previously reported death toll.

Among those killed in Mastaba district on Tuesday were 22 children, while another 47 people were wounded, the UNICEF children’s agency said.

It is one of the highest death tolls since the Saudi-led coalition launched a bombing campaign in support of the internationally recognised government against Huthi rebels and their allies in March last year.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday demanded an investigation into the bombing, calling it “one of the deadliest — reportedly killing and wounding scores of civilians, including women and children — since the start of the conflict”.